Valorant Mobile is coming to China soon as Riot partners with Lightspeed to develop
- Valorant is coming to mobile, for real this time, as Lightspeed is set to develop
- A China-first release strategy is planned, with further news to come
- The announcement by Riot marks the first real news we’ve had for almost four years
After almost four years of radio silence, it seems that Riot’s hit tactical hero shooter Valorant is finally set to arrive on mobile, as the company has partnered with Tencent-owned Lightspeed Studios to develop. While an official release date is yet to be nailed down, it looks as if China will be the starting point for a wider release.
A sort of midway between Counter-Strike and Overwatch, Valorant has a key selling point that’s a combination of sharp, tactical gunplay and distinctive agent abilities. The core mode consists of a 13-round 5v5 match, which pits players against one another with only a single life per round, occasionally complemented by a defusal/planting objective very familiar to Counter-Strike players.
The partnership between Riot and Lightspeed isn’t unexpected, of course, especially considering both companies are owned by Tencent. But official confirmation is more than welcome after a prolonged period of silence on Valorant Mobile.
Valorous
The good news for players is that, considering the popularity of the Android platform in China, we’re virtually guaranteed a multi-OS release. Aside from that, the most we can confirm is purely what Riot have released, confirming that development was in the works with Lightspeed attached and that the plan is for a China-first release.
Fortunately, this also confirms we can (for the moment) expect a wider release. But given the ongoing issues facing trade, including the crucial smartphones for mobile gaming, we may be waiting a while before Tencent, Lightspeed and Riot feel confident enough to tell us exactly when we can expect Valorant to hit mobile around the world.
In the meantime, though, if you’ve got an itchy trigger finger, don’t resign yourself to puzzles or culinary management sims just yet. Instead, why not go ahead and dig into our list of the best shooters for Android and iOS?
